Angel shrugged, still too annoyed and feeling too tense to be playful about this. “I dunno. You call him your best friend, and if he were a chick, she’d probably be sleeping in your room, right?” He remembered the few times his sister had friends over and they all slept in the front room. “You’re not sleeping in the front room with him, are you?”

“No, I’m not,” she said, suddenly looking a little worried. “This isn’t gonna be a problem, right? I don’t just call him my best friend. He is. After you, that is,” she added quickly. “But he is my longtime friend, and you know you have nothing to worry about. I thought we were past this.”

She rubbed Angel’s arm, pinching her brows as if she suddenly realized just how uncomfortable this unexpected surprise really was for him.

“I’m cool with it, Sarah,” he said, kissing her forehead, and began to straighten up away from the car. “Just, please, don’t give me reason not to be.”

“Never,” she said, smiling apprehensively. “You know I wouldn’t.”

Angel tried smiling a little bigger to make her feel better. “I’m good,” he said, kissing her a little longer than he had earlier. “I promise. Don’t worry about it.”

He kissed her a few more times before getting in his car and driving away.

Never? Angel shook his head. She had no idea. He’d be working out long and hard tonight to work off some of the tension he’d built up in the past half hour alone. Angel hadn’t had to think about Sydney too much in the past two years. Their relationship had been a distant one, and even though it still irked him at times, as long as Syd was on the other side of the country where he was attending school most of the year, he could handle it. But just being around her and her longtime friend for a few minutes already had Angel so wound up he didn’t even want to think about tomorrow.

Chapter 3

Sarah

Sydney, Sarah and her mom had been sitting at the kitchen table, chatting for a while. The first chance Sydney got to talk to Sarah alone, when her mom excused herself to take a call, he lowered his voice. “You think we can go somewhere and talk a little more privately?”

Sarah stopped just as she was about to put another grape in her mouth and looked at him curiously. “Yeah, you mean like outside?”

He shook his head. “No, like go somewhere else—take a drive or something.” He glanced around as if to make sure her mom wasn’t within hearing distance. “I wouldn’t want to chance your mom hearing.”

Interesting.

Sydney had made a mention earlier in front of her mom, when she asked about his girlfriend Carina, that things weren’t the greatest between them right now, but he’d been vague. Sarah wondered now if there was something a little juicier about the story he didn’t want to share in front of her mom. This wasn’t the first time he’d mentioned having issues with Carina. In the past several months, he’d brushed on it but only when Sarah asked. Even then he never really gave her details, which was odd because normally he was an open book with her.

As selfless as she’d like to think her well-wishes for things working out for him and Carina were, she felt a little guilty that her wishes weren’t entirely altruistic. A part of her knew Angel was still uncomfortable with their relationship. His reaction tonight to Sydney dropping by had been a perfect reminder of that. When her mom sent her the second text on her way home, telling her she might want to have Angel just drop her off, she got the feeling it might have something to do with Sydney, but she never expected for him to actually be there. She regretted her reaction to seeing him the moment she saw that look on Angel’s face. Her holding on to Sydney’s hand the way she had was just stupid. She just honestly hadn’t given it a second thought. And it’d been so long since she’d last seen Sydney that she couldn’t help feeling emotional.

Sydney having a girlfriend served as a buffer for Angel’s feelings about her friendship with Sydney. It didn’t help a whole lot, obviously, but she knew Angel had been a little more at ease knowing Sydney had a girl he was romantically involved with and not just waiting in the wings for Sarah like she was certain Angel would think if he didn’t.

“Okay,” she said, stuffing the grape in her mouth and standing up. “Let’s go get ice cream.”

Glad that her mom was still on the phone—otherwise she might feel bad about not inviting her to come—she grabbed her keys and called out to her mom. “We’re gonna get ice cream, Mom. Text me if you want me to bring you anything.”

As soon as her mom said okay, they walked out. They’d only been in the car long enough for Sarah to put on her seatbelt and start it when she turned to Sydney with a curious but cautious smile. “Okay, what is it?”

She thought he might smile back just as playfully; instead, he seemed a little nervous. “Has, uh . . .? Has your mom ever told you more about your dad?”

This was so not the subject she was expecting. “My dad?” she asked, pulling out of the driveway.

“Yeah. Is what you’ve told me you know about him still all you know?”

“You mean basically nothing?” He nodded but waited. “Yes, all I know is what I’ve told you. She dated him in high school, and he moved before she could tell him she was pregnant. When she finally did track him down after I was born, he didn’t even want to see me. He was already in a relationship and wanted nothing to do with either of us.”